1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus and a method of starting up modules in the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus to which multiple peripherals are connectable, such as copier and network compatible image forming apparatus, generally includes an energy saving mode controller and an operation mode controller. The energy saving mode controller is capable of controlling electric power consumed by the peripherals. The operation mode controller acquires operation modes from the multiple peripherals, determines the method of operation, and switching the operation modes of the peripherals. For the purpose of shortening startup time, a startup control which changes the timing of starting a startup processing of each peripheral unit is known.
A conventional startup control is based on a precondition that an image forming apparatus is started up from a condition in which a fixing device, which is an alternating current (AC) unit, has been sufficiently cooled. In other words, since it generally takes a long time for the AC unit until a heater temperature thereof reaches a target temperature, a conventional startup control is based on a precondition that the startup time of AC unit is longer than that of direct current (DC unit), i.e., the fixing process is rate-limiting.
However, there exists an actual practical situation where an image forming apparatus is powered on again immediately after being powered off. In this case, the startup time of DC unit can be longer than that of AC unit because heat is remaining in the heater. Under the above condition, the startup time of the whole apparatus including the AC unit cannot be sufficiently shortened by the conventional startup control that is based on the precondition that the startup time of AC unit is longer than that of DC unit.
It is to be noted the term “unit” used in the above contexts corresponds to another term “module” hereinafter used in the present disclosure.